One rule the NCAA easily can correct: Allow athletes to transfer when coaches leave

Good for Darrell Hazell, who left Kent State officially on Wednesday for the head coaching job at Purdue. I've never had a problem with college coaches — including Urban Meyer, thankyouverymuch — improving their lot, especially when MAC schools are unable or unwilling to match salaries.
And that's not a knock on MAC schools, either. The college athletics landscape is like the Wild West and only getting wilder. When Kent's athletic revenues are less than 20% of an Ohio State or other top revenue generators, it might not be the wisest thing to outlay significant dollars on a football coach. Had Kent matched Hazell's new deal, they would have given him a 567% raise. That's just not feasible. (For more on those issues, see my story in Crain's print edition (subscribers only) this week.)
Now, with all those caveats out of the way, let's get to the heart of the problem: the athletes left behind.
I waffle, and I'm not afraid to admit it, on the topic of paying college athletes. Many are receiving a free college education, access to which they never might have had otherwise. (Whether they take advantage is their responsibility.) On the other hand, colleges are making millions of dollars on these players, whether it's in TV deals that players current and prior have helped achieve with their good play or with licensing revenues on merchandise bearing players' numbers.
So while yes, Kent is offering Hazell's recruits free studies, Kent gets free labor out of it — the terms of which Kent has changed halfway through with Hazell's departure.
Think of it this way: If my boss, Mark Dodosh, had recruited me and championed my hire to his bosses, then left for The Plain Dealer two years into my tenure at Crain's, I might be a little worried. Perhaps Mark's replacement doesn't like really good-looking sports business writers that also lay out pages and help manage our web products. Maybe his replacement would want someone less attractive, or someone who specializes in one area, or whatever.
Well by golly, I'd take stock of that situation, evaluate it and if I thought I was in trouble with the new guy, you'd better believe I'd be looking around for the next opportunity.
And if I did leave, I sure as heck wouldn't have to sit out a year.
But football players at Kent do have to sit out a year if they figure out that Hazell's replacement runs a system that doesn't suit their talents, or if they figure out the replacement just doesn't like them. In many cases, these players are done after college. But the Mid-American Conference has produced plenty of NFL players, and perhaps more than a few attended Kent because of Hazell and Kent's reputation of sending kids to the pros. Now, a new guy is going to mess with the youngster's potential future earnings or livelihood?
The young man, with his family and whatever other advisers, should be free to determine what's best for their future without a one-year penalty for transferring. Hazell and other coaches in the ongoing carousel, who use these kids to earn their next paycheck, certainly aren't forced to sit out a year.
Just another NCAA hypocrisy that needs mending as soon as possible.
Speaking of Hazell and the college coaching game: In a study of the college football coaches with the best cost-per-win ratios, Hazell ranked No. 1, with $27,272 per victory. (Hazell, as we detailed in this week's Crain's, made $300,000 per year at Kent.)
Who was worst on the efficiency list?
This season, the university paid Charlie Weis $2.5 million for one win — the highest cost per victory among schools whose teams won at least one game, according to USA TODAY Sports' annual analysis of football coaches' compensation. Kansas paid Turner Gill $1.05 million for each of two wins last season, after paying Gill $700,000 for each of three wins in 2010.
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